Malayankunju Movie Detailed Review & Analysis

Gist of the Story

After experiencing a personal tragedy, Anilkumar, who performs electronics repair work at his home, has become a recluse. He lives with his mother and gets along poorly with his sister and neighbors as well as everyone else. His annoyance reaches a breaking point when his lone source of solace—work—is interrupted by the baby’s cries. He is buried many feet down by a landslide, and his only chance of life is to hear the baby crying.

Plot

Anil Kumar (Fahadh Faasil) lives in a mountain village in Kerala. It is the rainy season and clouds are constantly rumbling over the village, signaling an approaching thunderstorm. But Anil is too overwhelmed to pay attention to the cues around him and do the right thing. Anil revels in the trauma of losing his father. However, it has a poker face on the outside, and scares those who try to get close to it. He became bitter and unforgiving. I can’t stand the crying of the newborn next door. Anil is also prejudiced. He cannot see the people he describes as “low-life”. even Anil’s mother Shanta (Jaya Kulap) tells her uncle Surendran (Indran) that she is worried about him. His family considers his hatred of people from other castes to be some kind of mental illness. With his father’s death something breaks inside him and he is unable to reconcile with it. For Anil to get a second chance, he must let go of the hatred that controls his heart. And for that change to occur, he must undergo a painful process of regeneration to regain his innocence.Anil is trapped under the debris of a landslide and thrown into a well. And Anil floats on the water like a fetus in the womb surrounded by amniotic fluid. When it comes time to regenerate, he must crawl through canal-shaped debris. It’s painful and there is no guarantee that you will survive. Nevertheless, he has to try again to save his life.

Performance

Fahad is as down-to-earth as ever, beautifully portraying the pain, anguish and redemption of Anikuttan as he goes through a life-changing experience. Despite being Fahad’s show, the characters played by Jafar Idukki, Indoran, Rajsha Vijayan, and debutante Jaya Kurup (as Anikuttan’s mother) are also integral to the story. Rajisha Vijayan plays Anikuttan’s younger sister, Sandhya. While she’s effective in the limited screen time she’s given, the character herself gets the short end of the stick.

Direction/Technical Side

Debutant Sajimon Prabhakar, who sets his story in the high ranges of Kerala, handled it decently. The first half of the film explores the daily struggles of the people of the high ranges. The well-paced first half effectively captures the life of people, who are used to the devastating effects of Nature’s fury. The timing of the landslip takes viewers by surprise and before they know it, they are with Anikuttan, trapped in the debris. The dialogues are minimal and most of what we experience is through Fahadh’s frenzied eyes and his faltering screams. The underwater sequence is stunningly conceived and shot. Art work by the production design team led by Jothish Shankar and camera work by Mahesh, his first as a cinematographer is the major plus of the movie. Music plays an important role in Malayankunju. A. R. Rahman composed the music for the film. The background score in the underground scenes elevates the claustrophobic feeling offered by the film. The production designer Jyothish Shankar deserves a special mention. Malayankunju hits the right notes of emotions in its climax scenes.

Verdict; Malayankunju is a technically brilliant film backed by solid performance from Fahad Faasil. Sajimon delivers a decent survival thriller, that is worth your time!